Earl’s 30 for 30

Earl Austin Jr. is celebrating his 30th year as the sports editor at the St. Louis American. To commemorate the occasion, Earl has put together a list of 30 of the top high school games that he’s witnessed during those 30 years. The second installment is a Class 5A state football quarterfinals game in the 1994-95 season between host Pattonville and Hazelwood East, a.k.a the “Mission Impossible Game.” Pattonville pulls off a stunning upset over the nationally ranked Spartans.

It was a cold and very rainy Monday night in late November when I made the drive over to Maryland Heights to see nationally ranked Hazelwood East take on host Pattonville in the Class 5A state quarterfinals.

Hazelwood East was a perennial statewide power that had taken things to another level in 1994. They entered the contest with an 11-0 record and were ranked No. 8 in the USA Today national rankings. The Spartans were dominant on both sides of the ball as they averaged more than 46 points a game while their defense surrendered less than 10 points per contest.

Among the teams that East defeated during the regular season was a demolition of metro east power East St. Louis in September in a big showdown at Busch Stadium. Another one of the Spartans early-season victims was Pattonville, who East defeated 35-14 in an early-season Suburban North Conference matchup.

Not only were the Spartans a heavy favorite to win the rematch against Pattonville, but they were the favorites to make a trip to the Show-Me Bowl and play for a state championship.

In an article previewing the game in a local newspaper, Pattonville’s chances of pulling the upset were compared to the old 70’s television show Mission Impossible. The task was indeed very tall for the Pirates, but they had a great leader in head coach Don Greco.

“The article in the Post-Dispatch called the game Mission Impossible,” said senior two-way standout Michael Potsou. “Coach Greco being the fantastic motivator he was, used that as fuel for the entire week. Rather than settling and celebrating just to be there, that article and theme for the week quickly turned our attention to winning. We loved being the underdog and being doubted. We were a close and tough group and we weren’t going down without a fight.” Pattonville had a lot of momentum going into the big rematch. After starting the season at 2-3, they were rolling along with a six-game winning streak. That included a district championship and a dramatic 22-19 victory over fellow Suburban North Conference foe Hazelwood Central in the sectionals. 

Adding a little more intrigue to the game was the weather. It was brutal. A heavy rainstorm had hit the area and there was very little let-up from the time we all arrived at the stadium and well into the warm-ups and the beginning of the game. Pattonville seemed undaunted by the challenge of taking on a powerful opponent in the worst elements possible.

“Before the game, emotions were high but coach (Don) Greco, as he would often do, told us to let it build,” Potsou said. “The locker room prior to the game was completely silent. No one spoke. We just sat there and looked each other in the eyes. The eyes tell it all. We were all locked in and ready.”

For more than three quarters, all of us in attendance watched a big slugfest which took place in the driving rain as the players sloshed around on a field that was completely covered in mud. The only scoring at that point was a field goal that gave Hazelwood East a 3-0 lead.

Along with the sloppy field conditions, the Pirates defense did their job of slowing down the Spartans powerful offense. But, they still needed something from their offense to pull off the big upset.

That “something” turned out to be senior running back Terrell Berryhill, who took over the final minutes of the game with his power running through the muddy field. Berryhill toted the mail for more than 50 of Pattonville’s 74 yards on their go-ahead scoring drive. He scored on a 25-yard touchdown run to give the Pirates a 7-3 lead with less than two minutes to play. The Pattonville side of the crowd went absolutely wild. All of us standing along the media row were talking amongst ourselves saying “Pattonville just might pull this one off.”

East got the ball back with a chance to regain the lead, but the Pirates defense remained stingy as they stopped the Spartans on downs and got the ball back. That was when Berryhill put the game away with a gut-busting 30-yard touchdown run in which he ran over a Spartan defender on his way to the end zone.

Final score. Pattonville 14 Hazelwood East 3. Mission accomplished.

The Pattonville players and students stormed the field at the end of the game. All of us media members stood on the sidelines in stunned disbelief. KSDK sports anchor Frank Cusumano summed it up best as he called Pattonville’s triumph “the greatest upset in the history of high school football.”

That Pattonville-Hazelwood East game exemplified what is so good about high school sports. When you put a group of 15 to 18 year olds on the playing field, anything is possible.